


Team Building

by Rosethebookwurm



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Pre-Relationship, Team Bonding, corn maze
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-18
Updated: 2018-11-18
Packaged: 2019-08-25 07:34:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,312
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16656901
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rosethebookwurm/pseuds/Rosethebookwurm
Summary: “It’s a corn maze!” Lance gleefully exclaimed.“Except it’s not corn,” Hunk huffed.“It’s close enough.”Pidge adjusted her glasses, a barely there smirk on her face, “Still not corn.”Team building in a not-corn maze. What could go wrong?





	Team Building

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place just before the beginning of season 4.

“I’ve found the perfect team building exercise!” Coran proudly declared. 

As one, the team groaned. 

“We’ve been busy all day meeting with Raxacor’s leader,” Pidge complained, flopping down on the couch and putting her feet up. “I’ve got a project to get back to.”

“I have some new spices I want to experiment with. I think I’m really close to a good chocolate,” said Hunk. 

“The last one was just off,” Lance added. 

Pidge assured Hunk “But it was still pretty close!”

Keith stood up. “If we’re done I need to check in with the Blades.”

“We might as well do the team building now, because who knows the next time Keith will be around,” Lance quipped. 

“Something you want to say, Lance?” Keith asked, folding his arms across his chest. 

Shiro leaned forward. “Guys, lets not fight right now. I think it’s a great idea to make the most of our time together.”

“What exactly is this team building exercise?” Pidge asked. 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

One varga later the team was standing in front of a large field full of a dark blue crop. The plants were tall, at least a foot or more taller than Shiro, with slightly lighter blue leave growing off each stalk. There was a slight rustling sound as the breeze blew through the field. 

“It’s a corn maze!” Lance gleefully exclaimed. 

“Except it’s not corn,” Hunk huffed. 

“It’s close enough.”

Pidge adjusted her glasses, a barely there smirk on her face, “Still not corn.”

Lance stuck his tongue out at her. 

Keith leaned over to Shiro and asked, “Still think this is a great team building exercise?”

Allura, who overheard, interjected, “This looks like it will be most entertaining. I’ve never seen anything like this before.”

Lance popped up next to Allura, slinging an arm around her shoulders, which she quickly shrugged off. “Corn mazes are quite popular on Earth. I’d be more than willing to show you how it works.”

“It’s really not that hard,” interrupted Hunk. “I mean, go in, find your way out, get hopelessly lost in the meantime.”

“And it’s still not corn,” commented Pidge. 

“This isn’t team building. This is just meant to be fun,” Keith complained to Shiro. 

Shiro shrugged. “There’s no reason it can’t be both.”

A Raxa teenager at the entrance took their tickets, and instructed in a dull voice, “Stay on the path, no eating the zea,” before returning to twirling their dark purple hair through light blue fingers. 

“That’s it?” Keith asked incredulously. 

Allura chimed in “What should happen if we cannot find our way out?”

“What if we need to use the bathroom?” Hunk added. 

“Hunk!” Lance exclaimed. 

Hunk shrugged. “We might be in there a while. You never know what might need to happen.”

The teenager sighed and dropped her hair. “Yes, if you can’t get out then you die in there, and I dunno?”

“Wait, did you just say die?” Hunk asked. 

“Yep.”

“Guys, I’m a little concerned…” 

“You’ll all be fine! You’re paladins of Voltron! And no one’s died here recently.”

Lance leaned forward to be eye level with the teenager. “No ones died here, right?”

As they opened their mouth to speak, Coran hustled them into the maze. “Like I said, paladins of Voltron, nothing to worry about.”

“Wait, you’re not coming too?” asked Lance. 

“Unfortunately,” said Coran, twirling his mustache, “ I have a slight allergy to the zea plants that make up the maze. I’ll have to stay behind.” He turned and walked away, calling over his shoulder “Good luck in there!”

The paladins and Shiro paused as one before embarking upon the path through the tall, dark blue zea. Raxacor’s sun hung low in the sky casting the path in deep shadows. The zea continued to wave above their heads. 

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” Pidge muttered. 

“Ha ha, Pidge.”

“Shut up, Lance.”

Shiro sighed. “C’mon guys, the only way out is forward.” 

“An astute observation,” said Allura, looking around with interest at the plants around them. 

“Let’s just get this over with,” Keith muttered. 

Things went fairly smoothly until they reached the first fork. 

Keith asked “Which way?” A chorus of lefts and rights came back at him. He sighed. 

Hunk raised his hand, nervously looking at the zea. “I just don’t want to be stuck here and die, so whatever way makes that not happen, I choose that one.”

Shiro soothingly said, “Hunk, you’re not going to die in here…”

“Where’s Lance?” Pidge exclaimed. A quick scan showed the red paladin was truly gone. 

“What do we do now?” Hunk tentatively asked. 

Keith looked at the zea, then at Shiro. “Split up?” he asked. 

“It’s the best way to make sure someone runs into him,” the former black paladin replied. 

“Ok, Shiro, you and I will go left, Allura, Pidge, and Hunk, go right. We’ll meet up at the end.”

Hunk shivered. “This feels ominous to me, does anyone else feel like this is ominous?” 

“I’m sure all will be well and we’ll see each other at the end soon,” said Allura brightly. 

Pidge muttered, “You might be the only one.”

“It’s be best to stay together in our groups, no more breaking up,” Shiro said. 

Keith nodded in affirmation, then said “Let’s go, it’ll be dark soon.” Slowly the two groups turned and moved up their respective paths. 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

Lance loved corn mazes back on earth. There were just so many possibilities. Once he had managed to get his friend Martin to wet his pants after jumping out of the corn and scaring him. Another time he had gotten his crush Claudia alone and they kissed with no one the wiser. 

This time, he was determined to jump out and scare all the paladins. Except maybe Shiro. He was pretty sure after everything Shiro went through he would be more likely to punch something that jumped out at him than to be scared. And Lance was not looking for a punch in the face. But first he had to get on his own. 

While the other paladins were discussing he quietly took the right path. As soon as he was out of earshot he bolted, running as fast as he could. As he ran, he made a mental map of the maze as best he could. 

First he needed to find the exit. By then he would have a pretty good idea of the layout of the rest of the maze. After that he could go back and find the paladins. No one was a corn maze master like Lance McClain!

Well, an almost corn maze master. The dark blue crop was definitely not corn. 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

Keith and Shiro walked in silence for several minutes, only communicating to discuss directions in the maze. Every minute or so one would glance to the other and open their mouth to say something, then quickly turn away. Finally both stopped walking and turned to the other at the same time. 

“Keith…”

“Shiro..”

Both paused, looking at the other. Keith swallowed. “You go first,” he said. 

Shiro stepped forward, putting a hand on Keith’s shoulder. “We need you around. And we miss you being around. You are part of this team. You are leading this team.”

Keith stepped back, and Shiro let his arm fall. “It doesn’t feel right, not with you back.” They stood together for several long moments before Keith said “Let’s keep walking.”

They continued step in step down the path. After a minute Keith continued “I never wanted to pilot the black lion, or be the leader. And the black lion choose me and...I had no choice. I wasn’t ready. I’m not ready. And I’m doing so much good with the Blades. I just wish…”

“I’m not the black paladin anymore, Keith,” Shiro said gently. 

“But can’t I still wish that you were?”

“Keith…”

Keith shook his head. “No, don’t worry about it. Let’s just focus on getting out of here.” The two continued on in silence. 

“For what it’s worth, I always thought you’d be a great leader. Still do,” Shiro said, giving Keith a slight smile. “You sell yourself short.”

Keith gave his signature not-quite-a-smile back. “Thanks man.”

“Now, let's find Lance and get out of here.”

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

Allura and Pidge walked side by side down the narrow path, with Hunk hovering just over their shoulders. The planet’s sun was beginning to set in the distance, causing the shadows thrown by the zea to deepen. 

At the first fork in the path, they all paused, uneasily looking between the two paths. “Are there any secrets to more easily navigate out?” Allura asked. 

Pidge nodded. “Yes, but I’m not familiar with maze algorithms.”

“I’ve heard you should always turn right,” Hunk said. 

Pidge shrugged. “Works for me.”

“Excellent,” said Allura. 

As they continued the sun set lower and lower in the sky, until finally the last trace of sun disappeared and darkness began to fall over the field. As the light had disappeared the paladins had unconsciously moved closer and closer together. The sun’s disappearing found Pidge and Allura arm in arm, with one of Hunks hands on each of their shoulders. 

“There’s really nothing to be frightened of,” said Pidge, eyeing the zea. 

“Of course not,” Allura agreed. “It’s simply plants. They’re completely harmless.”

“Logically, I know that, but I’m still super freaking out here,” Hunk squeaked. 

Over to the left, a patch of zea moved. All three paladins froze. 

Hunk‘s voice quivered as he asked, “What was that?”

The zea moved again. 

Pidge and Allura grabbed onto each other. Hunk huddled behind the two girls. 

“It’s probably just an animal,” Allura said, the confidence in her voice betrayed by how hard she was clinging to Pidge. 

“Or Lance,” added Pidge. “This is probably why he ran off.”

The zea began moving again, this time creeping closer and closer to them. A low groaning sound reached them from the stalks of waving zea. 

“What is that!” Allura exclaimed. 

“No idea! Run!” Hunk yelled, barreling through the two girls as he moved as fast as he could. Allura and Pidge looked at each other, then took off after him. 

Pidge didn’t get far when she tripped hard, scraping her knees, hands, and chin on the rough ground. Swallowing down the pain, she got to her feet, pulling her bayard out and aiming it at the moving zea that was now in front of her. 

The zea stalks parted to reveal a cackling Lance. Pidge breathed a quick sigh of relief, then scowled at the red paladin. “Seriously not cool, Lance. What is wrong with you?” she exclaimed, tucking away her bayard. 

“The best part is that you guessed it might be me,” he crooned, “ and I still managed to get you.”

Pidge’s scowl deepened, and she punched Lance’s shoulder before turning to the side and examine her hands. 

“What’d you do that for?” he asked, then leaned over to get a look at her hands as well. 

At his questioning look she explained flatly “I tripped.” 

Lane winced, then reaching forward grabbed her hands to complete his own inspection. “It doesn’t look too bad..” Looking up he noticed the scrape on her chin. “Quiznak, Pidge, your chin!” Reaching up, he tilted her face up, examining the slightly bleeding wound. “It’s mostly superficial, but still bleeding. If we can take care of it as soon as we get back to the castle it shouldn’t scar.”

Pidge rolled her eyes. “Only you would care about me having scars on my face.”

“But it’s such a nice face,” he said jokingly. And then paused. Looking down at her in the twilight, her amber eyes wide and open in the twilight, Lance suddenly felt his world shift. She really did have a nice face. A beautiful face. 

A breath, and then another, then Lance suddenly stepped back, dropping Pidge’s hands. Both paladins found they were suddenly extremely interested in the floor. 

“So, um, do you want to go scare everyone else?” Lance finally asked. 

Pidge looked up, the last traces of awkwardness leaving. “Do I ever!” she said, eyes lighting up with unholy glee. 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

Conversation between Shiro and Keith remained stilted, both from their earlier topic of conversation as well as the growing frustration of not being able to find their way out. 

“The maze didn’t really look that big,” Shiro commented at a crossroads. 

Keith groaned. “I can't even remember what direction the entrance is.”

“I can’t either,” said Shiro, looking around. “Where are we?”

A large figure dashed in front of them. 

“Hunk?” Keith asked. 

Both men took off, reaching the path that crossed their just in time to meet… 

“Princess!” Shiro called out. 

She stopped up, eyes wide as she saw Keith and Shiro running up to her. “Oh thank goodness!” she exclaimed. “There was something in the zea!”

“I’m going after Hunk,” said Keith, who took off after the yellow paladin. 

“What are you talking about?” Shiro asked Allura. 

Allura quickly explained “We were walking, and there was something in the zea.it was coming towards us, and we were already jumpy, so we ran!” The princess suddenly reached out and grabbed Shiro’s arms. “Pidge, she was right behind me!”

Shiro looked up and scanned the path Allura had come from. There was no sight or sound of Pidge. 

“We must go back for her,” Allura insisted. 

Shiro nodded. “Of course. But we wait for Hunk and Keith first. I don’t want any more of us separated. 

They waited for what seemed like forever, watching both the paths and corn around them. Raxacor’s smallest moon had travelled across the sky, and the larger moon was beginning to rise, providing more light. 

Finally Shiro sighed and shook his head. “I don’t think Hunk and Keith are coming back.”

“Then we must go back for Pidge,” Allura demanded. 

“Are you sure you could find where you left her?” Shiro asked. 

The princess hesitated before finally shaking her head. “I was not paying attention as I should have,” she admitted. 

“Our best bet then is to continue through the maze. I’m sure Pidge started making her way out of the maze. With any luck we’ll meet everyone at the end.”

“And if Pidge has been captured by some monster?” Allura questioned. 

“It’s Pidge,” Shiro replied. “She has her bayard and is a more than competent paladin. She’ll be just fine. Besides,” he continued, giving Allura a side glance, “you don’t even know for sure what it was. It was probably just Lance.”

Allura grimaced. “That would be like him.”

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

Keith was able to catch up with Hunk when the other paladin finally stopped to catch his breath. 

“What happened?” he questioned, critically watching as Hunk bent over in half breathing heavily. 

Hunk huffed. “I don’t even know, man. We were scared, there was a noise, and I was not staying around to let it eat me.” He straightened then looked around him. “Where are Pidge and Allura?”

Keith explained “Shiro’s back with Allura. I assume Pidge was right behind her.”

The yellow paladin breathed a sigh of relief. “Oh good, I was worried I lost them there for a tick.”

“Well, you did, technically. I mean, neither are here with you…”

“Seriously, Keith?”

“...let’s just get back to Shiro and Allura.”

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

Lance had quickly led Pidge through the zea maze. 

“So you memorized this entire maze?” she asked. 

Lance shrugged. “More or less. I couldn’t draw it or anything, but I can find my way around inside.”

“So you found the exit?”

“It took me about 20 ticks the first time,” he replied. 

“Twenty ticks?” Pidge repeated. 

“Yep.”

“Lance, you know that’s kind of amazing.”

She looked over at the red paladin, who ducked his head down into his shoulder. “It’s not really,” he replied. “I just love mazes. And scaring people,” he smirked.

“It doesn’t matter why you do it, it’s still amazing. I don’t know anyone else who could do that. I couldn’t do that.”

Lance shook his head. “You’re just saying that.” 

Pidge turned and grabbed Lance’s arm, forcing him to turn and face her. “No, I’m not. I wouldn’t have said it if I didn’t mean it.”

He stared intently at her face for a moment, then his face broke into a shy smile. “Thanks, Pidge,” he said. 

She smiled back at him. “Anytime.”

They stood like that for several moments, faces aglow in the light of the large moon. Lance reached forward, placing his hand once again on Pidge’s face. 

The sound of Keith and Hunk’s voices in the distance caused Lance to frown, and he reluctantly dropped his hand from Pidge’s face. 

“When we get back to the ship we are going to have a talk,” Pidge said sternly, looking up at Lance. 

Lance smirked at her, then threw a lazy salute. “Yes, ma’am,” he drawled. 

Pidge scowled and punched his arm. 

“Aww c’mon Pidge, don’t be like that!” he whined. 

“Like what?” she asked innocently. 

“We’ll talk about that too, after scaring the pants off Keith and Hunk.”

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

“There’s nothing to be afraid of,” Keith repeated. “It’s just corn.”

Hunk corrected him. “Zea, actually. And yes, there is a lot to be afraid of. Like the thing that was moving in the zea earlier.”

“It was just an animal, or Lance.”

“You can’t know that!”

“Yes, I can! There is nothing dangerous in here. Coran wouldn’t have let us in if it was dangerous.”

“That’s a lie and you know it!”

“...ok, it was a lie. But we’re fine…”

Up ahead, a small area of zea began to gently shake, the dead leaves rattling. Both paladins turned to look at it, before Hunk ducked behind Keith. Keith rolled his eyes. “I’m willing to bet a lot that’s Lance.”

Whatever was moving the zea began to move closer. Hunk ducked even further down behind Keith. “It’s something else. I know it!” he “quietly” whispered. 

Keith shrugged Hunk off. “It’s Lance, and I’m going to prove it to you.” He began purposefully walking toward the moving zea. 

Hunk attempted to grab the other paladin, but Keith was already out of reach. “Keith, please man, come back.” But Keith ignored him. “Oh man, oh man, this is bad, this is bad,” he moaned. 

The zea stopped moving as Keith reached it. Quickly, he pushed it aside and stepped in, but there was nothing there. “Whatever it is, it’s gone,” Keith called back. He turned to go back to Hunk, frowning, when something grabbed him by the ankles, yanking and causing him to fall flat on his face, letting out a startled yelp. 

“Keith?” Hunk called out tentatively. All he heard was silence. 

“Hey, hey Keith, are you ok?” He took a tentative step forward when something grabbed him, pinning his arms, and a cackling voice whispered “We got Keith, and now we’ll get you!” 

Hunk grabbed at the thing behind him, but couldn’t feel anything. He whipped around, but the only thing he could see was the waving field of zea in every direction. 

“Keith! Oh no, Keith, I’ll...I’ll go get help!”

He felt the hair stand up on the back of his neck, and the same voice whispered, “Run.” Hunk needed no second prompting. Like a shot he was off, running down the path. 

A minute later, three figures came out of the zea. Pidge and Lance, with big smiles on their faces, gave each other hi fives. Keith, trademark frown on his face shook his head at the other paladins.

“You two really scared Hunk. This is supposed to be a team building exercise.”

“I think it been a successful team building exercise,” Pidge remarked while adjusting her glasses. “Don’t you feel closer to Hunk knowing that he went to get help for you?”

Lance chimed in “And Pidge and I had to work together to pull this off.” Leaning over, he slung an arm over Pidge’s shoulders. “Don’t you feel closer, Pidge?”

“Friends who scare together, stay together,” she replied. 

Keith’s frown deepened. “It’s Hunk, who is the nicest person in the universe. We need to go find him. He’s by himself now.”

“Actually,” said Lance, “he should be out by now. This path leads directly to the exit.”

“How do you know that?”

Lance huffed, crossing his arms across his chest. “I’m not completely useless, you know.” He gestured to the path in front of them. “Continue on this path, keep to the right, you’ll be out in 5 minutes. Pidge and I will herd Shiro and Allura out.”

The black paladin folded his arms across his chest and gave Lance a hard look. “This isn’t another trick?”

“Seriously?” 

“Just answer the question.”

“It leads out. No tricks.” Lance turned away. “C’mon Pidge, let get Shiro and Allura.”

Keith watched the two of them go, then continued in the direction Lance had indicated. Sure enough, in just a few minutes he found himself walking out of the zea maze . 

Hunk was talking to Coran, gesturing wildly toward the maze. “We need to get help and go back in! Keith is in trouble!”

“I promise you it’s perfectly safe in there!” Coran assured him. “And look, here’s Keith now, safe and sound.” Hunk whipped around, his eyes widened dramatically and he ran the short distance to the other paladin, picking up Keith in a huge hug that lifted his feet off the ground.

“I was so worried about you, man!” Hunk sobbed.

“Hunk…are you crying?” Keith asked. 

“No. Well, maybe a little,” he admitted. He set Keith back down then asked “What happened? What was that thing?”

Keith scowled. “Exactly what I told you it was. Lance. And Pidge was helping him.”

“...oh. I guess that makes sense,” Hunk said, turning red. “I thought you were really in trouble.”

“I know. Thank you for coming to get help. It...means a lot.”

“Of course! We’re a team, I wouldn’t ever really leave you behind,” Hunk said, eyes shining. Reaching over, he pulled Keith into another hug. 

“Hunk,” Keith frowned. 

“Just let it happen, Keith,” Hunk replied. 

“As touching as this display of brotherly affection is,” Coran interrupted “where are the rest of the paladins?”

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

As the vargas had passed, Allura grew more and more concerned. Raxacor’s second, larger moon was now high in the sky, and soon it would be the end of the night on this planet. It felt like there was no end to the zea, and she was tired of walking with no end in sight. 

“Are you sure there is no faster way to make our way through?” she asked. 

“Yes, I’m sure,” Shiro responded. “The only way out is to keep walking.”

“Or you could get help from people who know the way out.”

Both Shiro and Allura turned around to see Lance and Pidge, smug grins on both faces. 

“Keith and Hunk are already out,” Pidge explained. 

Lance added “So we came to fetch the hopelessly lost.”

“We weren’t hopelessly lost,” Shiro frowned. 

“Hunk and Lance were both on the way to the exit. You’re still closer to the entrance than the exit.”

Allura and Shiro looked sheepishly at the floor. “So...the exit?” Allura asked. 

“Right this way Princess,” Lance gestured, throwing in an exaggerated bow. The three others rolled their eyes before continuing in the indicated direction. 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

“You all finally made it back!” Coran exclaimed. “I was starting to get worried I’d need to send out a search party for you.”

“No thanks to Lance and Pidge,” Hunk said, arms folded across his chest and a frown on his face. “That was really mean. I thought Keith was in trouble!”

Both Pidge and Lance had the good grace to look sheepish. 

“Sorry, Hunk.”

“Yea, sorry man. It was just for fun.”

Hunk frowned for another moment, then his face spread into a broad grin. “I know, and you got me so good!”

“It was Lance really, he memorized the entire maze!”

“No way, that’s so cool! How did you do it so fast!”

“After I found the exit once it just kinda all comes together. It’s not really a big deal.”

Arm in arm, the three paladins walked off towards the shuttle. 

“What a successful team building exercise!” Coran exclaimed. “I will admit, I was concerned there for a while.”

“While somewhat unorthodox, I did find that I had a good time,” Allura said. 

Shiro places a hand Keith’s shoulder. “We’re not the Blades. Having fun together is just as important as time spent on the training deck. The closeness is what’s important.”

Keith flashed Shiro a quick smile. “You’re right, thanks man. It has been nice to just relax.”

“We’ve missed having you around, Keith. It’s just not quite the same without you,” Allura said. 

“I’ve missed you guys too.” 

Together, Shiro, Keith, and Allura walked towards the shuttle. 

Coran held back, walking over to the entrance and bored teen taking tickets.

“I thought this was supposed to be dangerous!” he exclaimed. “My paladins had to provide the danger on their own.”

The teen looked up from twirling their hair. “The sign says it only haunted on the prime lunar cycle before Phantara. That’s in another prime lunar cycle.”

He frowned. “How do you expect an off-worlder to know that?”

They raised an eyebrow. “Did you ask?” they said. 

Coran opened his mouth to reply, then quickly closed it. Lifting one finger, he shook it in the teen’s face. “Next time I expect danger!”

The teen rolled their eyes. “Whatever,” they said, and once again returned to hair twirling. 

As Coran entered the shuttle Allura asked “What was that about?”

“Ah, nothing, just a question for future team building,” he quickly explained. When she gave him a questioning look he bustled over to the controls of the shuttle. “Back to the ship then?”

**Author's Note:**

> I got the idea for this fic after going to a corn maze with my family. 
> 
> The plants the maze in this story was made of, zea, was named for the scientific name for corn, Zea mays.
> 
> Lance being able to easily navigate the maze is based on a couple of boys I went to a corn maze with once. They would run through the maze, memorizing it as they went along, then go back and scare people before giving them directions out. I was extremely impressed because I would always be hopelessly lost.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
